How to Write a Critical Essay

Writing a critical essay is a quite demanding task. It takes a lot of research, reading Literary Criticism, making up plenty of drafts and finally finding the right word to create a good piece. “Critical” has actually a dual meaning. One can write a critical essay that fully agrees with the literary piece discussed, or it can be completely against it. Whichever type of critical essay you write, you must show proof of very strong arguments when building your own “criticism” for or against that respective literary piece.

Critical Essay Structure

If you need to write a critical essay and you want to ensure that the writing is done right, there are certain important structural points you should keep in mind. You should start with a main summary comprising the main point of view of the author, such as the theme as set by the author.

Then, you should nicely outline the facts that the author himself used to support this main theme. Regardless of whether you agree or not with the main idea or theme of the author, you need to outline it coherently within the essay.

Then, there will be a main evaluation of the work of the author which will include assessment of the facts that were used to support the main theme. Here will follow your valuation of the author’s judgment, and you will have to use extremely logical outlines to support the theme/idea or reject it. As you build up your “criticism”, whether for or against the main theme of the author, you can include theories, themes, research study points that help you sustain your main idea.

The entire critical essay is in the form of an analysis, but the most important point is that you have to succeed in impress the reader. Your position needs to be stated extremely coherently and logically all throughout the work.

The Conclusion of the Critical Essay

The conclusion part is extremely important. This is your “momentum” where you are allowed to present your own point of view regarding the topic, theme, idea, etc. You can state your position, but still keep in mind a critical essay is an informative piece of writing not a persuasive one. You will inform the reader how you came about the result to agree or reject the original theme or idea of the author. You can work a little to convince the reader that your idea is the right one, but convincing is not the main point you want to achieve here.

Please keep in mind that any claim that you will make regarding the work being discussed needs to be supported by strong evidence. A critical essay is not about expressing your personal opinion regarding a certain theme/idea, but to use important research that speaks for or against the theme that you believe in.

Take your time to research carefully many available online resources regarding how to write a critical essay, and ensure that you will deliver a work that is indeed backed up by powerful references all throughout.